WRONG TURN: Tackling debt equal parts confusing and disheartening

If you feel comfortable sharing with others that you're having trouble with debt or getting your finances in order, chances are you've been met with enough advice to make your head spin. How exactly do you differentiate from the good or bad, solid or questionable when it comes to finding a happy medium between filing for bankruptcy and ignoring your debt and hoping it will go away? Your first course of action would be to seek out someone who has somewhat of a financial background or enough experience and acumen in the field and actually heed the information they're giving you. The last thing you want to do is to listen to someone who is in worse financial shape than you are. If they're so knowledgeable in the field of budgeting, why exactly haven't they been able to turn their own ship around? Aside from ignoring certain persons spouting off money saving and spending tricks, your next move might be your first step toward financial redemption or the very last step you take before your credit score sinks and you're in the midst of losing it all. Truth be told, there's plenty of so called advice permeating around budgeting that it's easy to stray in the wrong direction. Most of the bad decision making is obvious, such as assuming those late payment and creditor calls will end without you taking any action or opening up more lines of credit or new cards when you're already struggling to pay the ones you have. Beyond that, the black and white of building better credit and getting out of debt turns quickly into shades of gray. You may hear plenty of people telling you that you should file for bankruptcy or go elicit the help of a consolidation agency. Maybe a simple balance transfer could do the trick. Bankruptcy should be a last resort, plain and simple. Filing for bankruptcy means that you have no income and there's no way you can pay your debt. A consolidation company is essentially a neutral move when it comes to your credit. Initially, getting a loan or buying a house might be difficult since you'll be seen as a liability, but once you show you can make those consolidation payments regularly, your credit will build back up toward respectability. That said, a credit consolidation company is in business to make money, so make sure they're negotiating better rates for you and the monthly fee isn't going to cost a fortune. Most reasonable fees figure to be around $50 to $60 per month. It's never easy admitting that you need help financially, and it's even harder to swallow some of the shoddy sentiments spouted off by friends or family trying to help. Even their best intentions could easily push you in the wrong direction and only compound your money woes.